Kuta is so popular among international travelers that businesses thrive, including eateries that keep popping up almost daily. Some folded in less than a year, some survived the up and down of local and global economy.

Ma Joly Restaurant at Sandi Phala Beach Resort stays popular for many years due to its beauty, simplicity and tasty cuisines. Sandi Phala itself is a boutique hotel with only 11 rooms hidden in a lush tropical setting, Balinese décor and birds flying in and out, teasing squirrels high up on the trees.

A few steps down from the hotel overlooking the Indian Ocean, lay Ma Joly with artistic details in every corner, a modern and traditional decoration that blends into its nature surrounding. The main restaurant has quite a formal setting, with wooden pillar and thatched but strong roof.

We had lunch at Ma Joly on a Monday and had the beach view all to ourselves. Sitting under the pergola, and facing the white sand and blue sea on a hot sunny day, glasses of Virgin Mojito seem perfect to cool off.

 Ma Joly

The pergola can be festooned with selections of ornaments depending on the customers’ requests. Long table, romantic, cozy can easily be set up with drapes of colorful thin fabrics, flowers and elegant table settings.

Even without elaborate décor the place is so wonderful that even in such hot weather the place looks cool.

Lunch at Ma Joly is an assortment of Balinese tasting, salad and soup, fish and meat, pasta, or sandwiches, with three lunch sets for Balinese tasting: nasi campur a’la Ma Joly, ayam betutu and be tongkol sambal matah.

Culinary enthusiasts would be happy to see that Ma Joly presents its Indonesian menu in Bahasa Indonesia, one commended way to mainstream Indonesian cuisines in international venues.

We settled for nasi campur a’la Ma Jolly: steamed rice, ayam betutu (Balinese spiced spring chicken), sate lilit ikan (Balinese minced fish satay) (fish satay), udang bakar (grilled spicy shrimp), sambal matah (Balinese condiment of chili and shallot), sayur urap (vegetables with grated coconut), emping melinjo (Gnetum gnemon chips), telur balado (spicy boiled egg).

Ma Joly’s nasi campur is perfect in terms of taste, color, portion and presentation. The condiments may not be as spicy as the original nasi campur but Ma Joly maintains its authenticity. The ayam betutu took the biggest portion of the side dish, while others are served in tiny plates of condiments. This dish has at least 15 herbs and spices; most notable are candlenuts, lemongrass, turmeric, galangal and ginger.

While there is always room for desserts, surprisingly Ma Jolly does not carry Indonesian desserts so we settled for the sinfully exquisite baked cheesecake and chocolate lava cake.

Content, we looked around Ma Joly one more time with 360-degree angle and imagine how the place looks like when full of guests for romantic weddings.

Ma Joly is trendy with a thousand faces. It is a place that is always spectacular however arranged and rearranged.

 Ma Joly

 Ma Joly

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Images: Omar Niode Foundation, unless otherwise noted